DS Smith: sales of paper for shopping bags increases 400% in three years
Surprising new figures from packaging giant, DS Smith, have shown increased sales of paper for shopping bags as retailers adapt to new attitudes towards single-use plastic.
Last year alone, the Kemsley Paper Mill – the largest paper recycling mill in the UK – supplied enough paper to make around 400 million bags used by major retailers and food takeaway chains. Ds Smith continues to see considerable growth from customers. Bag manufacturers require year on year increases in recycled paper to manufacture bags, with orders increasing by 400% over the past three years.
According to recent studies, the global market for paper bags is booming and is expected to demonstrate further significant growth between now and 2023. Paper bags require fewer reuses than bags for life to make them more environmentally friendly and have the benefit of being widely recyclable once they reach their end of life.
But the key to reducing the impact of all carrier bags, irrespective of what they are made of, is to reuse them as much as possible. It is the buying and disposing of a bag after single use that will have a bigger environmental impact than choosing to buy a paper, plastic or cotton bag.
